


Breaths In and Out

by CharlieDC



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Established Relationship, Fluff, Living Together, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 16:30:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15198806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlieDC/pseuds/CharlieDC
Summary: A small look into Polypucks' first apartment together.





	Breaths In and Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [clarxe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarxe/gifts).



> I went into cardiac arrest from the fluff in this drabble.

Two weeks, three days, and forty-eight hours  _ exactly.  _ That is how long Bitty, Kent, Jack, and Tater have lived in their giant ass apartment in Providence, Rhode Island. Eric had just graduated college and, much to his surprise, the three NHL Players gave him the greatest gift any post-college graduate could get; an envelope enclosing the lease to an apartment, paid in full for three years.

“Y’all…” was all he could manage, the choked sound coming from behind a hand hovering over his mouth in shock. Tears welled like a breaking dam, much to Eric’s dismay as he  _ hates  _ crying in public - the corner booth of Annie’s is no exception.

Life moved very quickly after that. Eric spent most of the summer with his family in Georgia, but as soon as it takes someone to breathe, he noticed the change.

_ Breath _ .

_/  \\_

Taping over the last box in his bedroom, he looked up to see Tater walking back over the threshold to grab another load for the truck. He smiled at Bitty and leaned down to softly press his lips to Eric’s forehead.

“Future looking bright, eh B?” Tater’s hand cradled the back of Eric’s head as he leaned down for a firmer kiss.

“It really is.” Bitty sighed.

Kent barged in, followed by a panting Jack Zimmermann, “Told you I could beat you up the stairs!”

“They’re narrow as hell, of course you beat me! You were halfway up them when you yelled ‘I BET I CAN BEAT YOU UP THE STAIRS’!” Jack argued, putting his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

_ Breath _ .

_/  \\_

Eric, ever the ceremonialist, taped a giant red ribbon across the threshold of apartment D15 - an apartment on a very private floor of a very private street in Providence. After his seventh picture, he sighed and looked at his three boyfriends, all waiting in adoring anticipation.

“Okay! Who wants to cut the ribbon?” Scissors were extended to the group of the three standing opposite Eric.

Kent looked at him confused, Jack the same. Tater glanced between the two and back to Bitty.

“You.” Kent said, like it was stupidly obvious. Bitty’s gaze shot up and down between the scissors and the expectant looks on his boyfriend’s faces.

“Wha-?” He pushed the scissors father from his body, “No-”

“Bitty. You should cut it.” Jack interrupted. Kent stepped forward and put his hands over Bitty’s where he held the scissors. His grasp enclosed his fingers around the scissors as Kent’s enclosed around his own. Eric looked up at Kent as Kent brought his hands up to caress Bitty’s cheekbones.

“You should be the one to do it, Bitty. It’s your first apartment!”

Eric smiled, turned around and bore his eyes into the red ribbon.

_ Breathe. _

_ Snip! _

_/  \\_

At sunset, the pizza arrived. Tater shot up from his spot - squished on the giant L couch in their living room - to pay and generously tip the delivery girl. As it was cheat day, the boys decided on the American-Italian-hybrid-from-God: pizza. And as cheat day miraculously coincided with Monthly Movie Night, the boys went about their usual routine: order in, everyone writes down a movie, and the movie is drawn from a hat.

“Canadian Bacon for, well, Canadian-” Tater hands Jack’s pizza over to him.

“Hey-”

“Pineapple for Kenny,”

“Disgusting…” Bitty mumbles to himself, with a soft smile and side eye to Kent.

“Extra cheesy for Bitty,” to which Tater gets a happy  _ thank you,  _ “And meat lover for me.”

Jack chokes on his Pepsi, Kent howls a laugh, and Bitty hides his grin in his chomp of cheese pizza. Tater looks up from where he just opened his pizza box to the godly contents of meat-on-cheese.

“What?” He asks innocently.

“Nothing.” Jack says, smiling as he takes a large gulp of soda.

Kent leans over and kisses Tater on the cheek, “Just, um,” he chances a shot at Bitty, who is trying very hard not to smile, “meat lovers pizza for my favorite meat lover.”

Tater’s expression changes at the drop of a hat. He’s wiping tears away from laughing too hard, Bitty is wheezing from the floor, Jack is laughing again and Kent has a content and happy smile on his face as he gets up to retrieve beers from the fridge.

He’s hopping over the back of the couch - much to Bitty’s displeasure - to hand a cold beer to Eric on the floor, when he settles in and sighs.

“Guys,” he says, popping open his bottle cap, “this is…  _ our apartment, _ ” he smiled wide, “like-yeah…  _ obviously _ it’s ours, but-”

“It’s  _ all _ ours.” Jack finished.

There’s silence. Not a holy-shit-what-are-we-doing silence. A comfortable silence. The silence of everyone sitting in Jack’s living room just after the Aces and Falconers played each other; Bitty studying, Jack reading, and Kent and Tater playing video games.

Silence like Bitty sneaking everyone into the Haus waaay past midnight so they can all cram onto his bed because he missed them so much. Silence like Bitty making everyone breakfast the next morning, followed by all four of them eating quietly.

Quiet, content, happy silence like Tater writing in his journal, Jack passed out on the couch next to him (smushed into his side with half his face in Tater’s shoulder) while Bitty gives Kent a back massage after a very, very long morning run.

It will be all those moments, except in one location. Not everyone in Kent’s apartment for the first time in three months or, god forbid, like the first time they all went over to the Haus and  _ did not coordinate at all. _

Everything will be happening from the comfort of their  _ own home. _ The place  _ they  _ have with  _ each other _ . Not the Haus. Not separate apartments. And definitely not somewhere in Vegas (while Kent still does have the apartment, 90% of his things are here; home).

Bitty sets his pizza aside, “and this is our first Movie Night since we’ve been here.” He scoots up from the floor and onto Tater’s lap on the couch. Jack gets up from his arm chair by the bookcase and squeezes in between Kent and the arm rest.

Tater looks up at Bitty, comfortably placing a hand on his hip from where he’s plopped on his lap, and reaches up to gently peck him. Eric’s initial surprise at the action fades as he genuinely kisses him back.

_ Breath. _

“Home.” Tater says.

_/  \\_

Three empty pizza boxes piled onto the coffee table in the living room. Jack was busy shoving the forth pizza box - containing all the stray slices of pizza from their personal favorites - into their massive fridge.

Kent was sliding in behind Jack to wrap his arms around Jack’s waist as the fridge doors closed. Soft, peppered kisses were placed on the fabric of Jack’s t-shirt, just above his shoulder blade.

“Remember when we used to live together… y’know before?”

“In the Q?” Jack asks and there’s a very evident grin on his face. He turns around, but Kent keeps his arms around Jack - he uses the move to pull Jack closer to him. 

“Yeah. When we were with the Tremblays-”

“-And she’d always pick us up late-”

“ _ And _ they had that cute little dog that you loved-”

“-Rocket-!”

“Yeah, Rocket.” Kent looked up into Jack’s eyes with a smile, but turned his expression serious, “I want to say something I wanted to say then, but was too chicken shit to do it.”

The grin on Jack’s face softened even more, as if it were possible. From the couch, Bitty and Tater observed the tender moment with sweet awe, savoring the moment between the two.

“Y’know… I had a small feeling that they wouldn’t like living together…” Bitty looks at Tater and back at the two in the kitchen, “But I think we’ll be alright.”

From where he was, sandwiched between the fridge and Kent’s warm body, Jack whispered down to Kent, “Go ahead.”

Kent, eyes sparkling and heart open, stood on the balls of his feet to deliver a tender kiss to Jack’s lips. Smiling, - they both were - the kiss deepend. Kent pulled away for a second, beaming like he did when he first kissed those lips, to whisper back at Jack.

_ Breath. _

“I love you.”

_/  \\_

“Alright! Alright! Movies in the hat, please!” Eric shook Kent’s snapback in front of his boyfriends as they finished up writing down their movie titles and folded them neatly. The hat shook gently as Bitty shuffled the folded papers and closed his eyes. His hand ruffled around until he drew a piece of paper out, then set Kent’s hat on the coffee table to unfold the paper.

“ _ Captain America: Civil War. _ ” Bitty read definitively. 

Kent bounced up and down from the couch, shouting with much glee.

“Didn’t we watch the second Captain America movie last month?” Jack asks.

“Yes we did, Jack, but that wasn’t  _ my  _ pick; it was Tater’s.” Kent lofted a thumb at Tater to accuse him of his good movie choice. Kent settled back in to Tater’s side, who wrapped an arm around him and kissed the top of his head. Bitty crouched down and started going through their movie collection in a bin under the television.

“I have soft spot for Bucky Barnes.” Alexei confessed.

“And I, myself, have a  _ hard  _ spot for Bucky Barnes, so can we get the movie started?” Kent smiled, even though he was met with the audible objections from his boyfriends at the comment. Tater extracted his arm from Kent and Bitty shot him a look from where he was on the floor.

“Okay, for that you get to make popcorn.” Jack said, stretching his legs and arms out on the couch. He looked comfortable, starfishing in his own corner of their giant sofa.

“Serious?” Kent whined, but was already on his way to the kitchen when Bitty found the movie and plopped it into their DVD player. Eric quickly settled in to the spot right of Kent’s, leaning in on Jack’s side.

“You know the rules!” He shouted, “And bring pop for everyone!”

Jack pulled Bitty close with an arm around his shoulders and leaned down to plant a soft kiss on his lips. “I wanted to watch Buzzfeed Unsolved tonight.”

“I know you did, honey.” Bitty placed a consoling hand on Jack’s chest as he pecked him on the lips, then reached for the remote.

Kent was pulling a bowl down from the cabinet and popcorn from the pantry when he heard the tell-tale sounds of the Marvel Studios title card playing. He left the popcorn in the microwave to sprint from the kitchen into the living room with an objection in his throat.

“HEY!” He ran in, “You  _ cannot  _ start the movie without me!”

“Just be glad we not fine you, Kenny!” Tater responded, and he propped his feet up on the coffee table. In no time, Kent was back at his side (cuddling in close), with four cans of Pepsi for everyone and a giant bowl of popcorn.

A camera pans over a white, snowy terrain. Kent giggles.

_ 1991 _ .

Bitty smiles over at the giant grin on Kent’s face. Tater is looking down at him with an equally soft smile. Alexei looks up and catches Bitty’s eye.

They hold the smiling gaze at one another for a moment. Bitty’s breaks into a wider grin, and Alexei beams back.

On their TV, doors open to reveal a man walking into a guarded room to retrieve a notebook. The scene cuts to a giant cage ascending with smoke escaping from underneath. Inside is Bucky, cryogenically frozen.

“My baby.” Kent whispers. Jack smiles. Bitty lets out a small laugh. Tater comments on how he would save Bucky in an instant. They’re all smushed together on the couch, even though there’s room for at least three more people. Kent and Bitty’s shoulders and thighs are meeting in the very middle of the sofa with Jack and Tater having arms around both of them. They’re one unit, comfy and cuddling as they keep up their movie date night.

They’re home.

  
  



End file.
